


I'll Always Figure Things Out With You

by Capesandshapes



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Balcony Scene, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kagami Tries to Kiss Adrien, Marinette's afraid she'll be akumatized, School Dances, adrienette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capesandshapes/pseuds/Capesandshapes
Summary: After seeing Kagami kiss Adrien at the school dance, Marinette needs a little air to settle her emotions. Unfortunately, her problems seem to follow her when Adrien finds her out on the balcony.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 8
Kudos: 261





	I'll Always Figure Things Out With You

The air felt cold as Marinette entered the balcony and far harsher than should belong to a Parisian spring, but she supposed that was more her situation at play rather than the weather. Her heart pounded in her head as she crossed the space, kicking off her shoes as she attempted to keep her head anywhere but there. The rough cement of the balcony was a welcome distraction, but only a momentary one as she kicked her legs through the guardrails, her skirt bunched up at her thighs as she struggled to focus on Paris below.

_ Don’t think about it, don’t think about Adrien. Think about Paris; think about your friends and family. Don’t be upset, don’t get akumatized.  _ Somethings were easier thought than done.

“Why can’t it be anyone else,” she murmured to herself, “why can’t it be Luka?” Still, the image danced through her eyes. Kagami leaning in to kiss Adrian, his lips just barely pressing against hers, Marinette struggling to stand up as Luka’s arms wrapped around her and her whole world went crashing down. “It had to be Adrien Agreste,” she sighed, Luka’s disappointed face as she said she had to leave flashing into her consciousness.

Panic hit her once more and a sob caught in her throat as she furiously began to pull at the back of one of her earrings, struggling to pull it out before the worst could happen.

“Marinette,” a voice began behind her as she nearly ripped the earring out of her ear. 

Her hands shook at the sound, but she began to work on the next ear, replying, “not now, Tikki.”

“Marinette,” the voice tried again, flaring her temper.

“Not now!” Her voice raised as she pulled off the other earring, slamming them on the ground beside her. Tikki would know what to do, she always knew what to do. Tikki had to leave, she needed to in case it happened. “You need to go, you need to let me calm down. I can’t risk anything happening to you--”

A distinctively human hand landed on her shoulder before she could say anything else. She swallowed hard as her head turned at the contact, her hand quickly slamming down on her miraculous. There she was, once again face to face with Adrien Agreste. Immediately her hand closed around her earrings once again.

“Marinette,” he began again, “are you okay?” His hand tightened around her shoulder as he moved to kneel in front of her, stating. “Alya told me to come look for you, I was--”

“I told Alya where I was going, I needed to get some air.”

“Yes, well, I um--” Adrien stumbled, his hand still present on her shoulder as he blinked rapidly at her. “I saw you, I was worried, I needed to get air too.” Finally, he withdrew his hand, falling back into a sitting position as he admitted to her, “Kagami kissed me, I saw you leave, and then everything just seemed to spiral. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m okay,” she replied, her voice a bit fast as she averted her eyes from him. There was something about his face and how innocently he smiled in reply, it always made things harder. “Why wouldn’t I be okay? I mean, it’s not like anything totally traumatizing happened,” the fake smile she hadn’t realized she put on fell as she realized what him being there meant, “You should go. I mean, you just got kissed and here you are? Adrien, you need to be with Kagami.”

“Marinette…” He sighed.

“How do you think she feels?”

He raised an eyebrow at her, obviously unimpressed with her question. In response, he stated, “I can just take one look at you and tell how you feel.”

She jerked back from him, her face pink as she assumed the worst. Luckily, he clarified.

“Besides, I already talked to Kagami,” he admitted before beginning to speculate, “something must have happened with Luka, right? Or maybe it was something with Lila or Chloe, or…” He leaned forward, his face concerned as he gestured to her ears, “Marinette if I did something to you, I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t. I mean, you would never knowingly hurt me,” she stumbled over her words, pausing as guilt fell across his face. She wanted to lie, and obviously it probably would have been easier to lie. “Adrien, it’s not your fault; it was never your fault. I’m not a good friend to you.”

“Not a good friend?” His voice was astounded as he stated, “But Marinette, you’re one of my best friends. You’re always there for me, for everyone, really. You always think of everyone else, and you always do the right thing even if it’s hard.”

“Adrien,” the way that she said his name felt heavy in the air to her, far too serious. 

Her mind whirred through a hundred different things to say, to do right now. There was the right thing to do, the honest thing, the thing where she told Adrien exactly how she felt. But that right thing was also technically the wrong thing, because if she did that, she would hurt Kagami and herself. And then what? Two akumas roam the streets of Paris, leaving Adrien to feel like the real monster? No, the best decision to make was to lie, thank him profusely for calling her a good friend and move on, remaining calm at all times and not risking anything.

“Thank you,” she whispered, almost as if she wouldn’t be able to hear her own words. Desperately she wanted to tell him, to admit what she was actually upset about. Instead, she leaned forward, attempting to press her lips to his cheek in a sign of thanks.

_ Attempted _ . What happened next, like much of Marinette’s life, did not go to plan. No sooner had she leaned forward than Adrien’s head moved, his whole body adjusting further as a hint of her earring was visible in her hand, invoking a strange feeling of recognition that he couldn’t place. Because of that movement. Marinette’s lips landed completely off target. 

Adrien pulled away as soon as it happened, his eyes wide as his hand clamped over his mouth. Through his fingers, he bewilderingly said her name, “Marinette?”

Her wide eyes stared back at him, face gone as white as a ghost. A small breath escaped her, and from the looks of her, it was likely her final one. Her hands released her miraculous with two clinks, her body acknowledging what her brain could not. There was no way she’d be able to fight it, not one of Hawkmoth’s butterflies, not like this. 

Adrien’s hand touched the side of her face as her eyes watered, bringing her back to her harsh reality. “Adrien, you have to believe me, I didn’t mean to I--”

“No, I-- That’s-- You--” He tried.

“I’m sorry!” She sputtered. Taking in his still stunned face, she added, “That shouldn’t have happened, I never wanted that to happen.”

His face grew wary as he replied, his mind obviously elsewhere. “No, of course you wouldn’t want that to happen, I mean that would be…”

“Crazy?”

“Crazy,” Adrien repeated, the corners of his mouth completely falling. “It would be crazy for us to kiss, crazy for us to want to kiss,” Marinette couldn’t quite decipher his tone.

“Crazy,” she repeated.

But still, his hand didn’t move from her cheek. He stared at her, likely trying to overwrite the memory of heir short kiss. He exhaled, his shoulders moving up in a motion that Marinette was sure signified relief.

“Just forget that this happened, you need to go back to Kagami, you need to apologize, you need to--”

She barely got the words out before his hands cupped her face, pulling her towards him. His eyes clamped shut as he did it, almost too shy to look her in the eyes. His lips connected to her with a tenderness and borderline passion, powering through the small gasp the young girl gave as his mouth found full purchase on hers. It was not a long kiss, but the familiarity of his mouth on hers made it feel like ages.

And then, it was almost like he knew, like he could tell that she’d write it off. He went back again, his lips touching hers once more, barely allowing her a chance to breathe.

He pulled away, looking down as he whispered, “I already apologized to Kagami.” The tone of his voice implied that it was more than an apology for walking away.

“Oh,” that was all she could manage, evidently so shellshocked that real words couldn’t come to her. Her mouth was still agape, her jaw feeling too heavy to close. She had to say something, anything. “I have to go.”  _ Perfect _ .

“Please don’t,” he winced, his hand dropping from her cheek to cover her hand and his fingers gripping her tightly.

“My head is whirring,” she began.

“Mine is too,” he replied.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t either.” 

“Adrien.”

“Stay,” he whispered, his hand tightening around hers. There was an earnest desire in his face as he leaned towards her once more, “I know it was a mistake, and I know I shouldn’t have done that, but we’ll figure it out, I promise. Marinette, I’ll always figure things out with you.”

He didn’t get it, he just couldn’t get it. There was no way that he knew, no way that he kissed her because he felt the same way she did. So she finally said it, if only so he could understand how big of a mistake all of this was. “Adrien, I’m in love with you.”

And to her surprise, he smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a one-shot today.  
> If you like my writing and you want to see more, feel free to drop a request in my ask box at https://capesandshapes.tumblr.com/ask, where I will try to be as active as possible in fulfilling them. All of my fanfiction will be posted to my Tumblr and Archive of Our Own, so stay tuned!


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